As if by magic, three squares of paper become a heart, a bird and a box.

Origami instructor Janet Deen breaks the magic down into steps to fold the paper into three-dimensional objects.

"It's that 'wow' moment when a flat piece of paper turns into a recognizable shape," Deen said.

Deen teaches the art of paper folding during a two-hour class called Loveland Loves Origami, which she offers the first Saturday of the month at the Loveland Public Library.

On Wednesday, she will teach the first After School Origami class, which will meet the first Wednesday of the month starting in February. This month, the class is meeting a week later due to the New Year's Day holiday.

Origami is a traditional Japanese craft believed to have started in the 17th century that become popular outside of the country in the mid-1900s, helped by the founding of Origami USA.

"I love origami so much that I want people, especially kids, to have as much enthusiasm as I do about origami," said Deen, a retired California schoolteacher who used origami in her classroom and is a member of Origami USA, a national society devoted to the art of paper folding.

Origami uses folding and sculpting techniques to transform a square piece of paper, which can have two different colors or designs on each side, into a finished sculpture.

"A lot of origami is pre-folding to get the creases you'll need later," said Graham Cochenet, a Loveland resident who has been taking Deen's classes for the past three months.

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Deen had her students -- there were seven on Saturday -- start with a love heart angel, a folded paper heart with wings folded accordion-style that stretched out of the sides.

Next, she taught them how to make the base of a box they could make the lid for later, followed by a crane, the best-known origami project.

Deen demonstrated each step for the three folding projects, explaining how to understand the instructions presented in text and pictorial format with solid and dotted lines representing the various folds.

If You Go

What: Loveland Loves Origami.

When: 11 a.m.-1 p.m., first Saturday of the month.

Where: Loveland Public Library, Erion Room, 300 N. Adams Ave.

New Class: After School Origami, 2-4 p.m. first Wednesday of the month (except this month, the class will be Jan.8).

"You'll have wrinkles when you start folding," she said. "In the beginning folding stages, a lot of things aren't precise because you haven't learned to be careful yet."

Nine-year-old Brooke Rodriguez and three of her siblings took the class for the first time on Saturday.

"I like the folding, which is really amazing," the Loveland girl said. "When you fold stuff, you don't know that it actually makes a shape, and then you realize that's what you're up to to get your art with the picture in the book."

Alex Van Heel, 8, also was a first-timer to the class, though he's tried origami before.

"You know what to fold it against, and once you get it, then you can press down," the Loveland boy said.

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